This was a sweet quick read with Romeo and Juliet vibes. Julie and Randall's grandmothers used to be est friends until "the incident." When Julie and Randall start dating, they have to decide if their hearts are worth fighting for. I read and ARC so they may be fixed before release but there were some editorial and consistency issues. 3.5 stars rounded up.

This book had great description of Asian food and I enjoyed learning a bit more about the culture through the book. I would say this book is YA overall and it was a quick and enjoyable read. I didn't realize the main characters were going to be HS students when I started reading, but it was still. a good book and I liked the parallels to Romeo and Juliet like it mentioned in the summary! I loved the clever cover and I liked the LGBQT representation in the book too.

Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen is a captivating tale where love, family, and food intertwine in a modern Romeo and Juliet-inspired romance. Readers seeking a fresh twist on the enemies-to-lovers trope will be delighted by the delectable main courses of witty banter and swoon-worthy romance served up in this novel. However, it is the heartfelt side dishes of family, identity, community, and forgiveness that truly elevate the story, leaving readers eagerly anticipating whatever culinary delights Jennifer Chen has in store for them next.

This was such a great story. Cute YA Romeo and Juliet love story. It’s LGBTQ+ and has Asian rep and culture which was interesting to learn about. The food sounded amazing and I don’t even like Asian food. I think I’ll have to try it now. I think this one would be great for the younger audiences.

This book is a forbidden YA romance featuring Julie and Randall. Julie comes from a Taiwanese family and Randall comes from a Korean family. Both families run food stalls out of the LA market, but there is a big rift between the families. When Randall and Julie get paired up for a school project, they have to put their rift aside to work together. They rekindle not only their friendship but deeper feelings for each other. This was super cute. The description of the food their families makes was amazing! They really drove home how important food is to their culture and how it brings their family together and keeps their family loving each other. This was no spice. Perfect YA writing. This is a great choice if you’re looking for something light and fluffy to read.

This was a sweet book that combined a lot of complex storylines including a transition (off page), a feud between families, FOOD, friendship and love.

I didn't like how it jumped around without much warning and it made it so some chapters felt like they left off without resolving or finishing what was happening. I would have liked a bit more reflection throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

The cover and description made this book seem better than it was. Overall it was a cute YA novel, but at points it was jumping between POVs and through time so much that it was hard to keep up with. They made the school project seem like it was going to be a much bigger deal than it was, and that storyline was wrapped in the first 100 pages. I think that storyline could have been longer to tie in to the rest of the story.

This was a cute and modern Romeo and Juilet type of book. I think it was interesting how the author combined older type generation conflicts with very new and modern ones. I can see how this book can be relatable and almost unrelatable at the same time. It tackles a lot more grief in many different ways than I expected it. A lot of this book was serious and topics were a bit too heavy for what I thought would be a cute romantic type book.

Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, Netgalley, and the author for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a quick and easy read. First, the cover is super cute! Second, this book was truly a lot of fun! The forbidden love, Romeo and Juliet vibes, and the sweet romance between Julie and Randall were all great.

Chen does a good job at showing the dynamic of different families/cultures, all while adhering to the Romeo and Juliet theme throughout.

All of the incredible food really added to the story as well!

Overall, this was a sweet, fun YA read that most would find enjoyable and interesting!

3/5 ⭐️
Even though I rated this author’s other book 3.5, I still had a good time. I remember liking it, but wishing it just did more. That was the same case here, but worse. I think off the bat I wasn’t thrilled with the fact chapter one was 80% info dumping things to us. But this also felt so much more fake than the other. Like the other was kind of unbelievable but this just felt super shiny Hollywood fake. The characters, the conflict, the world. Like no teenager I know lives and act like this. There’s suspending belief, and then there’s the Truman show fakeness.
I will say though that this is also a very fast read and I think it would be good for like upper middle grade/ lower YA. It has that sort of Disney channel quality to the characters, world, and conflicts.
Even though I know this is a ya romcom, I think I would’ve preferred if this felt a smidge more grounded in reality. I love YA romcoms, but this one just wasn’t for me. And I wish it was telling us things less. Like less info dumps and asides. I think that would help the tone from feeling too much like what an adult thinks a teenager sounds like.
I would still recommend others check it out for themselves. It’s definitely a quick, bingeable read. But it’s also a couple hours you won’t get back in your life 🤷🏽‍♀️
Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Despite a really cute concept, the execution fell flat. This is a short, sweet, easy read for anyone looking for a palate cleanser between more intense books. However, it's difficult to develop any emotional attachment for the characters, which causes the story to drag.

Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Romeo and Juliet takes a fresh spin between two ex best friends whose families are rivals at the farmer's market but find themselves thrown together and as they begin to fall for one another... can they find a way to make it work despite how much their families dislike each other. Julie and Randall use to be best friends, even their families were close... until the "incident" and every since then Julie and Randall have become rivals and their families dislike each other. Their families have competing businesses at the Saturday Pasadena Farmers Market and when one incident gets out of hand it leads to more animosity. Yet when they're both paired up to work on a project together along with another student, wealthy London Kim who has had a crush on Julie since forever, things take a turn as Julie and Randall now have to deal with their old feelings and new feelings for each other. Yet even if they are falling for each other can they find a way to be together despite how much their families hate each other or are some wrongs too long gone to be forgiven. I want to first say I love the rep in this one as Randall is a character who has transitioned and has such a lovely support from his family. The Romeo and Juliet spin was fun but my only thing was I just wasn't feeling the romance between Randall and Julie at all. I really tried to get more invested in it but it just kind of fell off for me personally. I do think other YA readers will have a fun time reading this new spin on a classic.

Release Date: March 18, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to NegGalley for the chance to do this review.

Similar to some of the other reviews, I wish that the summary was upfront about LGBTQ+ themes in the book, considering that one of the leads is transgender. I was able to make it about 1/3 of the way through, before I didn’t finish the book. I really wanted to give the book a chance since I was given the opportunity to review it, but I just couldn’t get into it. I ended up skimming the rest of the book and found it rather cringey.

Initially, I was drawn by the descriptions of family and food, but as the story unfolded, I couldn’t enjoy it. I also found it odd that there were instances in the book where the author would call out a passing character’s race. (“a Black customer”, “a Black girl”) it didn’t seem to bring anything to the storyline.

Unfortunately, the book fell really flat to me. The synopsis was good, but on page it did not translate the best. The story started off decent, but by the halfway point half of the problems were solved? The pacing of this book was not good sadly. It felt choppy and all over the place. There was rarely a continuous flow type feel. It read more like bullet points, especially with the POV switch in the middle of chapters after a few sentences.

The themes themselves were not flushed out as much as I would like them to have been. The school project felt like it did not even exist. I would have loved reading more about the project and was the elementary school garden saved? It felt like we did not even get an answer to that or I missed it? It was here and then it was gone. The way it was described it, this project was taking a few months to complete and it felt like 3 seconds.

The romance itself was too insta-love for me. I do not overall mind that trope, but with this story it just felt so extra fast. I get they knew each other since they were kids, but they did not speak for those five years. A lot clearly had changed for each of them and I think a slower burn would have worked so well here.

Let me present you « Hangry Hearts » by Jennifer Chen, aka an ARC I just read!

— My rating: 2.5/5 ⭐️

So I finished Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen, and while it wasn’t my absolute favorite, I’m still grateful to NetGalley for the advanced copy! 💖

This book is really short and easy to read—perfect for a cozy, light day of reading. It’s cute, and I loved the secret notebook Julie and Randall used to pass love letters. That was a sweet touch! ✨

I also didn’t expect the LGBTQ+ twist, which was a nice surprise and added some depth, though it didn’t fully hit me emotionally. The romance was sweet, but overall, I didn’t feel that much for the characters or the plot—it was just... okay.

On the plus side, it was nice to read about Korean culture—especially the food! The descriptions made me so hungry, and I loved how it brought a bit of extra richness to the story.

If you're looking for something quick, cute, and a bit different, you might enjoy this! It’s coming out on March 18th!

#HangryHearts #LGBTQRomance #JulieandRandall #NetGalley #CuteAndAdorable #KoreanCulture #FoodLover #BookReview #YAromance #FamilyDrama

Due to my religious beliefs I had to dnf this, I didn't realize this novel had lgtbtq+ themes (the mmc being trans) as it was not disclosed in the blurb/synopsis.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

DNF at 20%...couldn't push myself to finish that 25% I normally try to hit. Yhe changing POV halfway through a chapter and the YOUNG youny adult writing just made me not want to continue.

The descriptions of the food is why I kept reading. It made me so hungry!

This book had so much potential and I really tried liking it but I could not find myself being able to care for the characters. The writing was absolutely underwhelming and I never knew what month it was because the timeline is all over the place. There is no fluidity between POVs to the point it would change even after just a small paragraph. Everything feels very surface leveled with so much happening behind the scenes that the author doesn’t share with us. I think I would have cared more if she had dove a bit deeper into the characters.

I did love the representation of trans people as well as showing with us the support Randall gets from his family. And I also loved the emphasis on the food.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange of an honest review!

Loved how the author combined traditional Chinese food with modern lady life in LA! The emphasis on family was realistic and enjoyable, def recommend

I believe if I was in elementary school this would have absolutely been a book I would have annoyed my librarian with how often I would have checked it out. Unfortunately, I am not in elementary school anymore and have developed a particular taste on what I like to read and what I don't since then. This book falling into the latter. I'm really sad I didn't enjoy this book as much I thought I would since I found the premise intriguing but what can you do.
The main thing I didn't enjoy was the writing, but I believe that's just a personal preference. That being said, I would totally buy this book for my 10-year-old cousin. It has great lgbtq+ rep, which I'm always happy to read about, and I loved learning a bit more about cultures I'm not a part of.

It wasn't for me, but I could see why someone would enjoy reading it!

Thank you netgalley for the arc!